Catch Group CEO Nati Harpaz at its distribution centre in Melbourne.Credit:Simon Schluter
"Catch has built a really successful and scalable and business model that can continue to grow in its own right - that excites us,"Wesfarmers managing director Rob Scott said.
"We also think that we can learn a lot from the capability of[CEO] Nati[Harpaz] and the team at Catch;that we can learn a lot about a more entrepreneurial,growth-oriented culture."
Catch Group started life in 2006 as Catch of the Day,which put one discount product on offer every 24 hours,but now stocks tens of thousands of products and has more than 1 million active customers.
A team of buyers scour the world for distressed,out-of-season or unsold products from leading brands thatCatch then sells at below-market prices.
Mr Scott said Catch gave Wesfarmers access to a market it did not currently reach with its bricks and mortar department stores,given most (80 per cent) of what Kmart sells is now its own private label products.
Wesfarmers hopes Kmart and Target can learn from Catch.Credit:SMH
Only about 3 per cent of sales across Kmart and Target are online,compared to around 10 per cent across the retail sector as a whole. Mr Scott said that was growing at around 50 per cent a year,with the strongest growth coming in click-and-collect orders.